FLORENCE, Alabama – The Lipscomb men’s basketball team completed a 19-point comeback to beat the North Alabama Lions Saturday afternoon at Flowers Hall in Florence, Alabama.
Down 42-23 with 18:26 left in the contest, a resilient Bisons squad found their way back from one of their largest deficits all year.
“I’m really proud, I’m really happy for them,” head coach Lennie Acuff said.
Junior center Ahsan Asadullah led the charge with a double-double, collecting 10 rebounds to go with a team-leading 23 points. Asadullah shot 9-12 from the field and went 2-2 on three-pointers, adding seven assists and three blocks to a successful outing on both ends of the floor.
Despite picking up a knee injury early in the second half after missing time earlier this season to knee troubles, the Atlanta native scored 14 points in the second half to mastermind the comeback.
Asadullah came away from a screen clutching his knee, leading to fears of a serious injury, but the center checked back in just over three minutes later.
“He’s a really, really good player,” Acuff said, “and he played 33 minutes–I thought he was done when he went out.”
Down 40-23 at halftime, Lipscomb fought back with an eight-point run, a seven-point run, and a six-point run to eventually cut the lead to four points with 5:52 left.
A Dallas Howell three-pointer for UNA put the Lions up 64-57, but a three-pointer and three free throws made it a one-point game at the final media timeout.
The lead flip-flopped until graduate forward Parker Hazen made a pair of free throws to put Lipscomb up 74-72 with just 21 seconds left.
Howell missed a three-pointer at the other end for the Lions, and freshman guard Trae Benham picked up the game-winning defensive rebound and sealed the win at 75-72 with a free throw.
For all the brilliance of the Bisons’ second-half performance, though, it took a poor first-half showing to necessitate the comeback.
“This is not taking anything away from North Alabama, but I thought [the first half] was the worst we’ve played all year,” Acuff said. “[UNA head coach Tony Pujol] had his team a lot more prepared than I had mine. But I challenged them at halftime, and obviously, Trae Benham was incredible.”
Benham commanded the backcourt, exploding for 20 of his 22 points in the second half. Benham went 4-5 at the three-point line and at the charity stripe, finishing 6-7 from the floor.
“He played great basketball, and every time we needed to get a basket or a stop, somebody would step up and do it for us,” Acuff said. “It was a win, obviously, that we needed, but I’m happy that we showed a lot of heart. We lost a lot of tough ones like that, so to win one was fun.”
Benham’s 22 points represent a career-high for the freshman from Concord, North Carolina, and complemented five rebounds and an assist.
Despite shooting 8-23 on the day, Daniel Ortiz poured in 27 points to lead all scorers for North Alabama.
The Lions gave up a second-half lead for the second straight game after giving up a buzzer-beater to Eastern Kentucky to force overtime, where they would lose 80-76.
Hazen, a 5th-year power forward from Columbia City, Indiana, played the entire second half with three fouls and the final 8:24 with four fouls. The Valparaiso transfer scored 12 points including 8-9 free throw shooting after entering the game as a 58% free throw shooter.
Without Asadullah and Hazen in key moments of the second half, the Bisons relied on younger players to make the score manageable.
“Real credit to our guys,” Acuff said. “We had three or four freshmen out there a lot tonight, and every time we needed somebody to step up, they did something.”
After losing four of their last five games coming in, Lipscomb has now won two of their last three as they build momentum for the ASUN Tournament in two weeks’ time.
“Right now, we need to focus on Monday and Tuesday in practice, and then go play good at Bellarmine,” Acuff said, “but for us, we’d love to get a home game [in the first round of the ASUN Tournament].”
The Bisons advance to 12-17 on the year and sit fourth in the West Division with a 5-9 ASUN record. They face Bellarmine next 7 p.m. Wednesday at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky.
That match will be broadcast live on The Bison, Lipscomb’s on-campus radio station.
Photo by Parker O’Neal